Do home-schooled children have to be tested at the end of the school year?

Question

I home-schooled my 7th grader this past year. I'm sure it probably depends on the state....which is FL. No one in our district seems to know the answer.

Answer 1

A good resource is www.hslda.org

Answer 2

Yes, it does depend where you live.

Here, we don't do any tests or exams.

Similarly while an individual state may make mention of 'approved programmes' or 'doing the same as public school students', there is NO blanket expectation of all homeschoolers to do either. We don't use any programme, approved or otherwise; neither do we set out to do 'what public school students are doing'.

According to http://www.hslda.org/laws/analysis/Flori...  No, there is no *absolute* requirement for testing of homeschooled kids in Florida. If you're registered as a private school, you only have to keep a portfolio for a minimum of two years; if you're registered as a homeschool, then you get to go for one of the following options:

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Standardized Tests:

Only required for parents homeschooling under the home school law in Option 1 above.

Each student must do one of the following each year:

1) Have educational progress evaluated by a teacher holding a valid regular Florida teaching certificate and selected by the parent. The evaluation must include review of a portfolio and discussion with the student;

2) Take any nationally normed student achievement test administered by a certified teacher;

3) Take “a state student assessment test used by the school district and administered by a certified teacher, at a location and under testing condition approved by the school district”;

4) Be evaluated by a Florida licensed psychologist or school psychologist; or

5) Be “evaluated with any other valid measurement tool as mutually agreed upon.”

The parent must file a copy of the evaluation with the local school superintendent annually. There is no specific statutory deadline. Fla. Stat. Ann. § 1002.41(1)(c).

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Uther Aurelianus -- I suspect your sister is having her kids follow 'an approved programme of study' and 'pass all the same requirements as those who attend traditional (sic) schools' not because it's mandated or even expected of her but because she has an eye on what will happen if, at some point in their future, they need/wish to return to public school. I don't believe it has anything to do with what any individual authority requires of home-educating families; I've certainly never stumbled over ANY state that requires such things of its homeschooling families.

Saying your sister has her kids follow an approved study of programme and requires them to meet the same requirements and pass the same subjects etc as public school kids seems to me to have heaps more to do with:

i) distance education rather than home-education proper

and

ii) a view to her kids gaining credits towards a high school diploma...credits that will (hopefully) be recognised and counted towards such a diploma should her kids ever go back to school.

For those of us who (for whatever reason) have neither need nor use for high school credits, a high school diploma or acknowledgement of any past learning, there's no need to be concerned with whether or not our programmes of study are approved or not; whether we're keeping up with the 'achievements' of public school students; or whether or not our home learning will be recognised by anyone apart from our own parents!

Answer 3

If you are home-schooling, you are supposed to be working through an approved program.  The coordinator of that program should be able to tell you what you need to know.  If you did not work through a program, then you may have wasted the entire last year.

Home-school kids have to pass all the same requirements as those who attend traditional schools

Answer 4

Hello,

I live in Florida and I know that your child has to have a standardized test or be evaluated by a certified teacher each year. They like to see a copy of the test results around your anniversary date each year.

Have you heard about FPEA? It is a great resource, you should check it out.

www.FPEA.com

Blessings

Uther Aurelianus- You are totally of base ( for Florida anyway). Your sister may be doing a certain program, but there isn't any "one" that has to be approved by anyone. They simply want to see growth each year. I haven't had anyone ask about my curriculum. We pretty much do something new every year and my kids test at or far above grade level in all areas.